World leaders have put women’s empowerment and gender equality firmly at the centre of global cooperation as the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA80) opened in New York, marking several significant milestones for women’s rights.
The gathering comes in a landmark year as 2025 marks three decades since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, 15 years since the creation of UN Women, and 80 years since the founding of the United Nations. However, these anniversaries arrive amid growing pushback on gender equality, with decades of hard-won progress facing renewed threats.
At the High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, global leaders commemorated the Beijing Declaration as a transformative framework for women’s rights and issued a united call to keep gender equality at the forefront of multilateral action.
In a major show of commitment, 109 governments pledged a total of 212 national actions as part of the Beijing+30 Action Agenda, described as the strongest multilateral effort for women and girls in three decades.
UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous urged governments to follow through on their pledges with concrete measures. “Your words today must be matched by courage tomorrow: in the policies you pass, the budgets you allocate, and the change you drive together with and for women. These actions form a map of the possible, and we know what that possible can deliver when we come together. Because gender equality remains a unifying force for the world,” she said.
The event drew 155 speakers, including 15 Heads of State and 10 Heads of Government, eight of whom were women, from Suriname, Switzerland, Namibia, Peru, Slovenia, Marshall Islands, North Macedonia and Barbados. Among those addressing the meeting were Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan and Her Majesty Queen Mathilde of Belgium.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reinforced the global importance of gender equality, describing it as essential to building a better future. “Equal rights and opportunities for women and girls are not partisan issues. They are global imperatives – and the foundation of peace, prosperity and progress. The United Nations stands with them, and all leaders should do the same, by speaking out and doing everything possible to realize the vision of the Beijing Declaration,” he said.
The session also marked the first major initiative led by the new President of the General Assembly, H.E. Annalena Baerbock, the fifth woman to hold the position in the UN’s 80-year history. “We stand on the shoulders of giants, of women who paved the way forward for us. Today we celebrate the courageous women who fought for every single phrase in the Beijing Declaration. The fight paid off, but 30 years later the revolution remains unfinished,” Baerbock said.
The event concluded against a backdrop of renewed momentum for gender equality at the UN. Just days earlier, member states adopted by consensus a resolution to revitalise the Commission on the Status of Women, a move hailed as a timely legacy of the Beijing+30 agenda and a sign of renewed commitment to advancing women’s rights through multilateral cooperation.
